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Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Organization always puts a smile on my face and saving money does too. So, when I stumble upon a great organization idea with supplies from Dollar Tree, I am in heaven!!

When we updated our the kids'/guest bathroom, we were all about having enough hidden storage with cabinets and drawers. However, when your drawers look like the mess in the picture to the right, then that storage space is really pointless.

The cushioned contact paper on the bottom of the drawer has bunched up, there is toothpaste all over the place and there are more unused items than used items in the drawer. It's a mess! And this is just ONE of the six drawers. Needless to say, every time one of the messy drawers is opened, I am a Stress-Mess. Something had to be done.

The first place I like to look to for organization supplies is Dollar Tree. Imagine my excitement when I found fun, colorful baskets in sets of three or four for (you guessed it) just $1. I thought, if they fit, they'd be perfect for the messy bathroom drawers. However, I also wanted to replace the cushion contact paper that lines the bottom of the drawers, just in case anything makes it outside of the baskets. Guess what! Dollar Tree had adorable cushioned contact paper too!! Woohoo!!!

I was super happy to bring home the baskets and find out they fit perfectly in the drawers. The contact paper and the baskets look so adorable. Also, the drawers are now organized and easy to clean. Check out your local Dollar Tree and find the perfect organization tools that can help you feel less stressed. Cheers to an organized and less stressed life!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Like every little girl, my daughter wanted to have a Frozen birthday party! Yeah!! I'm actually a huge fan of the movie and know practically all the lyrics to all the songs. That's right, it's me rocking out to the Frozen soundtrack and belting out "Let It Go" in the minivan next to you at the stoplight.

Having a Frozen party is easy now that you can finally find stuff in the stores, although it is ridiculously priced and you can never find everything you need at one store or even at the same time. I slowly purchased items over the month leading up to her party. Some plates from Kroger, napkins and cups from Target, decorative wall stickers on Zulily and the rest at Walmart. Buying supplies is easy when you find them. However, it's the games your daughter requests that can get tricky.

I allowed my daughter to choose just seven of her closest 5-6 year old girlfriends to our home for her Frozen Birthday...yeah, I know, what was I thinking!?! Luckily a few of the moms are my friends and they stuck around to help. But, how do you entertain kindergarten girls for TWO HOURS? Well, my daughter asked for activity stations, like her older brothers had at their Skylander Party and Pokemon Party. I love that kind of thing!! So, I said, "As you wish my baby girl" and away to my laptop I went!!

Activity 1 - Coloring Pages. As we waited for all the girls to arrive, I spread out some Frozen coloring pages I printed out that morning along with our bucket of crayons, on our dining room table. Our dining room was the center of the party of course, fully decked out in Frozen decorations, including three foot tall Anna and Elsa wall stickers from Zulily.

Activity 2 - Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Once all the girls arrived, I gave each of them a paper plate with 3 large marshmallows, 2 mini-marshmallows, a dollop of marshmallow fluff with 1 small flat toothpick, 2 small pretzel sticks and 1 small piece of an orange slice gummy candy. After they assembled their snowman, I went around and drew on his eyes and mouth with black icing and a toothpick. Then, if they wanted to, the girls were given the time to eat their snowmen. They had a blast doing this! I used the image below as the sign for the activity station.

Activity 3 - Olaf Lost His Head! I lucked out with my daughter's birthday being around Easter because I was able to find Olaf shaped Easter eggs at Walmart. I bought all the ones they had! Yep, I was that mom. Sorry! I used these little heads for a Frozen version of an Easter Egg Hunt in our living room. There is a scene where Olaf loses his head and he's chasing it. I thought that would be a great image to use for a station sign and the heading read, "Help Olaf Find His Head!". The girls loved it!! They took turns hiding them and finding them. However, it got to the point when all the girls wanted to hide them and no one wanted to seek them. So, we moved on to the next activity.

Activity 4 - Princess Fashion Show. I don't know about you but, I have gotten smart after the third kid. The day after Halloween, I hit store and buy all the princess costumes I can in a size up because my daughter, like most girls her age, loves to dress up. My daughter also gets some amazing hand-me-downs from cousins. So, having seven extra girls over to play dress up, wasn't a concern. They had a wonderful time trying on dresses and putting on play jewelry. They helped each other with their hair, adding all kinds of clips, bows and headbands, along with princess tiaras. Then they took turns walking up and down our hallway to the Frozen soundtrack. It was adorable!!

At the end of the party, I was completely exhausted but, my 6 year old daughter was as happy as a clam and I couldn't imagine anything better than that!!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Halloween is just around the corner and if you are a Disney fan, Jack Skellington probably comes to mind. We love to watch the "The Nightmare Before Christmas" at our house each October. It's like a kick-off to the Halloween season! If you'd like to include Jack Skellington in your Halloween decorations this year, here are few great ways to do it:

Thursday, September 13, 2012

If you have little ones, you've probably heard of Disney's new show, Doc McStuffins. My daughter loves this show and loves to give everyone in the family "check-ups". Doc McStuffins has a Big Book of Boo Boos that she uses to keep track of all the boo boos she encounters with her toy patients. So, I thought it would be fun to make one for my daughter to use while she gave us our check-ups. I was so happy and excited to find that the Disney Junior website offered print-outs to make your very own Big Book of Boo Boos! Here's the link - Doc McStuffins Big Book of Boo Boos. I changed it a bit for my daughter and used a 3 ring binder I already had. I put a piece of purple construction paper with the heart print out glued to in, in the clear sleeve on the front of the binder. Then I printed out the boo boos from the show and punched holes in them to put in the binder. Then I added extra lined paper for my daughter to record the boo boos she finds during our check-ups. She loves it and can't wait for her brothers to get home from school to get started!I hope you enjoy this simple craft as much as we did!Get creative and have fun!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Are your kids complaining that the jelly on their PB&J has soaked through the bread by the time they get to eat lunch at school? Or that their sandwich was soggy at lunchtime? Here's a quick tip: Spread peanut butter on both pieces of bread and then add the jelly on top of the peanut butter. With a meat and cheese sandwich - lay the meat on one slice of bread and cheese on the other slice. Then add mayo or mustard on top of the meat and/or cheese. You still get the flavor you want but, by keeping the wet ingredients off the bread, you lose the soggy factor.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

My little girl loves to have "Princess/Prince Parties" with her big brothers. Tonight she had the most wonderful idea: make crowns out of pipe cleaners! So we pulled out all our pipe cleaners and got creative. We even made bracelets and rings. It was fabulous!